It was a wolf. He was a magnificent creature, standing about three feet at the shoulder, a full six feet in length, and he was a pure snow white. He stood defiant, tail in the air, teeth glistening. This was an animal that knew he was in charge. He growled at Rose, causing her to retreat a step. This uncovered the squirrel, which made the white wolf pause. He stared at it, next switching his gaze to Rose, then back. Strangely he sighed, slumping from his proud stance to the picture of defeat. For some reason unknown to her, this made Rose relax her position as well.
The wolf took one last look at the squirrel, then turned around and began to leave. Rose could see that he had a slight limp on his right hind leg, and that although he was big, he was getting skinny. Running through the options in her head, she swiftly made a decision. Standing tall, she let loose one sharp, short bark. The white creature stopped and looked back in her direction. “Hungry?” she whimpered.
The wolf stared back with a cold glare, but then sighed once more and gave a quick nod. She nudged the squirrel in his direction, inviting him to have some. The wolf slowly came forward, but Rose could tell he was near starvation. He picked it up, bit off half, proceeded to retreat a few steps back. He flopped to the ground, apparently exhausted from his chase. “My name is Rose. What’s yours?” The wolf remained silent, chewing slowly with his head down. “Do you have a name?” She prodded further. After a few moments the wolf stopped eating and looked up. “Rolo.” He grunted, returning to his small meal. “Rolo,” repeated Rose, rolling the name around in her head. Apparently satisfied, she began to eat her share of squirrel.
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Rose was content. As content as a near-starving wolf could be. She was walking beside Rolo beneath the rising sun, glad the white wolf had agreed to let her stay with him. They both knew that their chances of survival were better if they together, whether they liked it or not. Rose had quickly discovered that Rolo was not one for talking, which silently irritated her. She was slightly worried too. Rolo had only said that he had shelter and that she could come, and in fewer words than that. Rose had no idea what lay in store, or what Rolo’s idea of a shelter was. It could be a furrow in the ground with no covering, or a hollow tree like she had slept in. But even though it might be a bad idea, Rose couldn’t help liking Rolo and trusting him. As his expression was blank, like always, she had no clue what he thought of her. This trust was going to be a problem. Although Rose had little experience with trust, from what she knew it was a two-way connection. She was pretty sure that unless Rolo expressed his trust of her, they would never be comfortable around each other.
¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨
Around evening they reached the den. Rolo’s idea of a shelter exceeded Rose’s highest hopes. It was a small cave with a narrow entrance. This was good for two reasons. One, since it was a small cave their body heat would quickly warm up the place, and the narrow entrance trap the heat. Two, with such a small cave mouth, nothing extremely dangerous could get in, other than weasels, which probably wouldn’t come around anyway. Plus, there was a stream right outside the entrance, providing fresh water. Then right around the corner was a large clearing, which she found to be plentifully stocked with fowl.
This puzzled her some, as she could easily tell that Rolo was losing weight rapidly, on the point of starving. Simply enjoying the peaceful surroundings, she wasn’t paying attention. Hearing the snap of a twig, she whipped around. It was only her friend. As he walked toward her, she once again noticed his limp, more pronounced after their long trek. All of the sudden it clicked into place. Rolo was starving because his limp. It slowed him down a great deal, made it impossible to catch birds as they took flight. That was why he had chosen to chase a squirrel instead, as it was easier to keep on the ground. A bird can escape to the skies, but a squirrel is limited to the trees. Much easier to catch.
“Can you hunt?” Rolo growled in a no-nonsense sort of way. “Actually, I’m fairly good,” replied Rose, irritated that he thought her incompetent. This irritation had been growing the whole day. “Prove it,” he challenged. Rose balked. She had hunted big game only, besides the squirrel, and did not know how to hunt birds. But strangely, normally shy and docile Rose felt like she couldn’t back down to such a challenge. This was a new feeling, like when she had defended her kill. It welled up within her and boosted her confidence.
She thought for a moment, deciding how to attack the situation, and more importantly, the birds. Then a smug wolfish grin crossed her face. Backing up to get a running start, she barked. Birds filled the air, startled out of their hiding places in the grass. She ran and confidently launched herself into the air, snapping this way and that to grab a bird. No luck. She hit the ground hard, and stayed down. Not because the fall had hurt her, but because of shame.
She heard Rolo approaching, but did not look up. “Ever seen a bird before?” he rumbled. Rose snapped her head up and glared. “Of course,” She replied indignantly. “Well, you wouldn’t have known it by that display,” Rolo growled. Rose was just about fed up with this wolf. “Like you could have done better,” she huffed, standing up and shaking herself off. “I couldn’t have done better,” he growled, sticking out his injured leg for her to see, “but I would have known better.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?” she replied in the beginnings of a growl.
“Simple. What you did was foolish and unplanned, the sort of thing a pup would do.”
That was it, Rose was through. She had been irritated to begin with, and now he had outright insulted her! She had been pushed around and criticized her whole life, and enough was finally enough. She felt that feeling start to well within her again, boosting her.
She raised her hackles, growling. These were the preliminaries to a fight. Doing what she had seen in countless pack squabbles, Rose began to move, expecting Rolo to start circling against her, so she could not get closer to him, nor him to her. They would keep this up until one lunged at the other, starting the fight. But there was one problem. The other wolf didn’t move. Nor did he move until she was within a few feet of him. With no sound to anticipate his intent, he silently lunged at her. Rose was so shocked that she couldn’t move fast enough to avoid the attack. The white wolf’s fangs slashed at her side, but when Rose whirled around, he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly she felt an attack from the other side, as Rolo once again assaulted her, this time ripping at her shoulder.
She lunged back, her fangs looking for a hold anywhere on this white phantom. And a phantom he was. Once, twice, three times Rose lunged, but he was never there. Bewildered that she was getting nowhere, the dark wolf paused.
This was all the time that Rolo needed. He barreled at her, hitting her shoulder with such force it knocked her to the ground. In this moment, Rose knew what would happen. She had seen it happen time and time again with the innumerable prey she had watched brought down. Now that she was down, her neck was exposed, which included her life’s blood. She fully expected no mercy from her opponent.
But, much to her surprise, Rolo merely stood over her, growling low in his chest. “Finished?” Rose gave a small, subtle nod, but there was venom in her gaze. Rolo didn’t move, but continued to stare down at her. They stood like that for a few moments, as though suspended in time, until finally Rose sighed and nodded again, accepting defeat.
Rolo stepped aside, and she slowly stood up. She considered attacking the wolf again, but then started to feel pain seep into her shoulder. It had been bruised in her scuffle with the pack, and then Rolo had attacked it. It was bleeding, and the pain increased as she finished standing up. As she began to follow Rolo back to the cave, she had to pause every few steps, wincing with pain. During one of these stops, Rolo wordlessly turned back and swiftly moved to her side. When she began to move again, he stayed with her, silently matching her stride. When they reached the mouth of the cave, Rose was allowed entrance first, and was helped up the small ledge.
After getting settled, she began to use her rough tongue and teeth to clean the rip on her shoulder. After completing this task, she curled up. As she did so, a body slid close to hers. Snuggling into the white fur for as much comfort as warmth, she drifted off to sleep.
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